Sunday, March 20, 2011

Obviously, the biggest problem with Bush was sending the military into an Arab Muslim country that hadn’t even attacked us. Among the several things that made that offensive were
* the rush to war – it was only several months after the possibility of military involvement was raised that combat operations began
* lack of United Nations sanction – only 17 relevant resolutions were ever passed before they were enforced
* lack of Congressional oversight – the President authorized the use of military force based on the flimsy pretext of a bill passed by Congress titled “Authorization of the Use of Military Force”, rather than seeking a document that had the words “declaration of war” in it; that’s every bit as bad as getting no Congressional approval at all
* obvious financial motives – clearly no one approved of the murderous dictator or sought a normal working relationship with him besides the French; at the same time, one couldn’t help but be suspicious of the fact that the population we were ostensibly protecting was located conveniently near the oil fields
* stretching our military – we were overburdened as it was, and our brave military despite its courage lacked the resources for yet another operation
* inflating our military – the only way to keep the bloodthirsty Pentagon beast fed was to give it the hordes of jobless young men who had no prospects in an economy that saw unemployment skyrocket above 4% in most states
* ignoring our generals – the decision to go to war was made by political hacks who had never worn a uniform
* inflaming the Arab Street – despite some touchy-feely talk about Islam, it was impossible for the Muslim world not to notice how the President made repeated, insistent proclamations of his Christianity, how he only ever used the military against Muslim targets, and how at the time the war started he’d kept the concentration camp at Guantanamo open for over a year
* wasting money – it was completely irresponsible to commit the military to an expensive mission when the President’s fiscal mismanagement had resulted in a budget deficit of over $150 billion in 2002

But anyway, what I really like about Obama is that he’s gone 29-3 in his bracket picks over the first two days. You have to spend a lot of time watching college basketball to be that good.

With troops in harm’s way, I will go no further, now, than to say that I believe the action in Libya sets two bad precedents:
1. The United Nations is operating inside a country, against a UN-recognized sovereign, to change a government’s domestic policy.
2. The President took military action against another country without consulting Congress and with no pretense of justification under the War Powers Act. Even Obama’s supporter Andrew Sullivan admits as much.

St. Louis Tea Party Coalition has posed five questions for the President regarding the Libyan offensive.

Now that the US is engaged militarily in three Muslim countries–Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya–we must ask certain questions and the President owes us an answer to each:

What are the criteria for US attacks on dictators?

What is the measurable objective of the attacks in Libya?

What, if any, are the limits of UN-sponsored wars of liberation?

How will US actions in Libya make Americans safer?

What is your Constitutional justification for the attack on Libya, since the War Powers Act clearly does not apply?

With Americans on the firing line around the world, we have every right to expect a coherent foreign policy that respects the Constitution and makes Americans safer.

What I find most fascinating about this Spring campaign is that the Arab League appears to have played a game of rope-a-dope with President Obama. After calling for a no-fly zone, they are now saying that the imposition of that no-fly zone has gone too far: "The Arab League. whose support was pivotal to the move, said the campaign was overstepping its bounds, and among league members only Qatar made clear it was joining in."